Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Phlox paniculata cultivar Fancy Feelings.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Phlox plant, botanically known as Phlox paniculata, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fancy Feelingsxe2x80x99.
The new Phlox is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Phlox paniculata cultivar Bright Eye Elite, not patented. The new Phlox was discovered by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, within a population of plants of xe2x80x98Bright Eye Elitexe2x80x99 in September, 2001.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by vegetative cuttings taken at Rijswijk, The Netherlands since December, 2001, has shown that the unique features of this new Phlox are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Fancy Feelings have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Fancy Feelingsxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fancy Feelingsxe2x80x99, as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Plants of the new Phlox have an upright plant habit.
2. Plants of the new Phlox have dark green leaves.
3. Plants of the new Phlox are freely flowering.
4. Inflorescences of plants of the new Phlox have numerous dark pink and white bi-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Phlox are most similar to plants of the parent plant, the cultivar Bright Eye Elite. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, plants of the new Phlox differed from plants of the cultivar Bright Eye Elite in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Phlox had smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Bright Eye Elite.
2. Plants of the new Phlox had smaller and narrower petals than plants of the cultivar Bright Eye Elite.
3. Plants of the new Phlox and the cultivar Bright Eye Elite differed in petal coloration.